• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Christina Meetoo

On Media, Society and Mauritius

  • About me
  • My research and publications

ITCA

A Supreme Court Judgement deems the offence of causing annoyance in the ICT Act to be “hopelessly vague”

05/06/2021 By christina Leave a Comment

On 27 May 2021, Supreme Court judges D. Chan Kan Cheong and K.D. Gunesh-Balaghee delivered their judgement in the case of SEEGUM J v THE STATE OF MAURITIUS 2021 SCJ 162.

Seegum had been prosecuted before the Intermediate Court on 5 counts for the offence of “using an information and communication service for the purpose of causing annoyance”, in breach of sections 46(h)(ii)  and 47 of the ACT Act. Two counts were dismissed and the trial had proceeded  on three counts all related to “wilfully and unlawfully using an information and communication service for the purpose of causing annoyance to another person” on a Facebook forum under Section 46(h)(ii) of the ICTA, which read as follows at the time of the alledged offence:

“46. Offences Any person who -(…)
(h) uses an information and communication service, including telecommunication service, –
(ii) for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to any person;
(…)
shall commit an offence.”

Seegum had been found guilty by the Intermediate Court and fined to Rs 15,000 for each of the 3 counts (total of Rs 45,000). He appealed against the judgement on several grounds, one of them being that “that section 46(h)(ii) of the ICTA breaches section 10(4) of the Constitution”. That section of the Constitution states that:

(4) No person shall be held to be guilty of a criminal offence on account of any act or omission that did not, at the time it took place, constitute such an offence, and no penalty shall be imposed for any criminal offence that is  severer in degree or description than the maximum penalty that might have imposed for that offence at the time when it was committed.

Seegum’s counsel argued that “causing annoyance” suffers from vagueness in the formulation of the ICT Act and causes uncertainty. It does not allow the ordinary citizen to determine which conduct may be considered as causing annoyance and whether a particular conduct will fall within the purview of section 46(h)(ii) of the ICT Act.

In their statement, the two Supreme Court judges upheld this argument, recalling that a number of past cases cases have allowed courts (in Mauritius and elsewhere) to reaffirm the well established principle that criminal laws must be certain and formulated with sufficient precision to enable the citizen to regulate his conduct. They write that: “for a criminal law to pass the test of constitutionality under section 10(4), it must be so worded that it allows the ordinary citizen to  determine what constitutes an offence and what acts and omissions will render him liable to prosecution.”

[Read more…] about A Supreme Court Judgement deems the offence of causing annoyance in the ICT Act to be “hopelessly vague”

Filed Under: New Media, Policy, Society, Technology, Uncategorized Tagged With: ITCA, regulation, social media, supreme court

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Posts

  • Démocratie augmentée pour une transition écologique juste
  • On the subject of Media Regulation in Mauritius
  • A Supreme Court Judgement deems the offence of causing annoyance in the ICT Act to be “hopelessly vague”
  • My final submission to the ICTA on its proposed amendments to the ICT Act
  • The proposed amendments to the ICT Act to regulate social media in democratic Mauritius entail the risk of creating a surveillance state

Recent Comments

  • christina on Discovering the beauty of Rodrigues
  • Eddy Young on Discovering the beauty of Rodrigues
  • IFEX Africa Brief (May 2021): Visions of press freedom obscured, LGBTQI+ rights falter, an icon tells her story - iSPEAK on My final submission to the ICTA on its proposed amendments to the ICT Act
  • The proposed amendments to the ICT Act to regulate social media in democratic Mauritius entail the risk of creating a surveillance state on My final submission to the ICTA on its proposed amendments to the ICT Act
  • The Gender Divides of the Mauritian Society: Re-appropriating the Empowerment and Citizenship Discourse | Wits Journalism on The Gender Divides of the Mauritian Society: Re-appropriating the Empowerment and Citizenship Discourse (Publication)

Archives

  • June 2022
  • November 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • March 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • March 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • April 2014
  • June 2013
  • April 2013
  • October 2012
  • August 2011
  • September 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • September 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in